Iran vows to keep Strait of Hormuz closed; Oil prices hit $100 again; Laundry fire on US aircraft carrier injures 2
People gather to show support for Iran’s new supreme leader in Tehran’s Valiasr Square. Photo: Reuters
TEHRAN:
Iran vowed on Thursday to make the United States regret launching its war against the Islamic Republic and said it would continue its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz as oil prices rose.
The International Energy Agency warned that the war in the Middle East could lead to “the biggest supply disruption” in the history of the oil industry, but US President Donald Trump wrote on social media that defeating Iran’s “evil empire” was more important than crude oil prices.
Trump has faced intense political pressure as the crisis’s global economic impact has mounted, and he has repeatedly given mixed messages about when the US campaign might end.
“Although it is easy to start a war, it cannot be won with a few tweets. We will not give in until we upset you with this serious miscalculation,” Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said on X.
His comments came after Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a defiant statement – his first since being appointed on Sunday following the death of his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei in a strike.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was also reportedly wounded, has yet to appear in public since his nomination, and his message calling for revenge was read by a newscaster on state television.
“The lever to block the Strait of Hormuz must absolutely be used,” Khamenei said of the waterway through which a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade normally passes.
The Revolutionary Guard responded quickly, and the force’s naval commander Alireza Tangsiri said: “In response to the commander-in-chief’s order, we will deal the hardest blows to the aggressor” while keeping Hormuz closed.
The strait, which also normally sees the transit of a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG), lies off Iran and is only 54 kilometers (34 miles) wide at its narrowest point.
When oil prices rose to over $100 per barrel, Trump said that “of far greater interest and importance to me, as president, is stopping an evil empire, Iran, from having nuclear weapons and destroying the Middle East and indeed the world”.
In an interview with AFP, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Tehran was only acting in “self-defense” and wanted to ensure war could not be “imposed” on it again.
Takht-Ravanchi confirmed that Iran had been approached by some “friendly countries” to put an end to the conflict, without specifying which ones.
“We tell them the same thing that we want the ceasefire to be part of an overall formula to end the war completely,” he added.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged that the US military was currently “not ready” to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
Authorities in Israel said 14 people have been killed, while strikes in the Gulf have killed 24 people, including 11 civilians and seven US military personnel, according to local authorities and US Central Command.
In Iran, over three million people have been displaced by the war, new figures released Thursday by the UN refugee agency show.
Iran’s health ministry said on March 8 that more than 1,200 people have been killed in the war, a figure AFP has been unable to independently confirm.
Also, two crew members of the USS Gerald R. Ford – the world’s largest aircraft carrier currently deployed in the war against Iran – were injured Thursday in a laundry room fire, the US Navy said.
“Two sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition,” a statement from US Naval Forces Central Command said.
The Navy said the fire, which originated “in the ship’s main laundry,” was “non-combat related and is contained.”
The Navy said the Ford is now in the Red Sea as part of Operation Epic Fury – the name given to the massive US bombing raid on Iran that President Donald Trump launched on February 28.
“There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion system and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational,” the statement said.
The laundry incident was not the first mishap reported from the nuclear-powered giant, which was ordered to the Middle East just after a month-long mission in the Caribbean that culminated in the January operation by US forces to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
According to American media, Ford’s toilets have been plagued by malfunctions and clogging as a result of misuse by sailors.
